Energy Muffins

Energy Muffins is the best name I could come up with for an otherwise long version of carrot date oat nut muffins. Energy Muffins because I ate one and I felt completely satisfied and ready for the next big thing. Energy Muffins because it took us a whacking 4 hours to make. They came out of the oven right when dinner should have come out of the oven, so naturally I called them dinner. We paired it with freshly squeezed tangerine juice, the tangerine slices fell on the ground one two many times compliment of my newest sous chef Maria -the baby.

Lovely Mariko, from The Little Foodie, gave us a citrus juicer for Christmas. It's been Baby Maria's favorite toy since the day it arrived. Enzo's favorite toy when he was her age was a little vacuum cleaner that made the noise but didn't pick up any dirt. He carried it around and would "vacuum" the entire living room over and over and over again. I hated that toy. It made my busy life angry. Why did it not work as a real vacuum? Was Fisher Price worried I would be exploiting my 1 year old?  Because the truth of the matter is that I would have, of course. Little toddlers are eager to explore the world, imitate what you do, and do it! Baby Maria saw me making orange juice, pulled her chair next to me and decided she wanted to give it a try. As soon as the citrus makes contact with the top it starts spinning so even my one year old can make juice, and she does. So the lesson here is that if you need to get another plastic something or other for a 1 year old make it useful, give them a kitchen appliance.

With that being said let me make myself useful as a food blogger and give you a recipe already. Note: it took us 4 hours to make because I let Enzo do all the chopping and cutting and shredding, mixing and whisking and measuring.

Enzo makes me muffins Baby maria makes me tangerine juice.

I could get used to this lifestyle really fast.

Energy Muffins - yield 12 muffins
(printable version)

2 cups flour
1/2 cup shredded carrots
2 large eggs
8 dates (cut into smal pieces)

1 cup rolled oats
1 cup plain non-fat yogurt
1/2 cup butter
1/3 cup sunflower seeds
1/3 cup chopped pecans
1/3 cup chopped almonds
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1. Pre heat the oven to 350*
2. line the muffin tin with cupcake liners
3. Melt the butter in a medium sized bowl and whisk in the eggs and yogurt.
4. In another bowl mix the flour, oats, sugar, nuts, cinnamon, dates and baking powder.
5. Add the butter, egg, and yogurt to the flour mixture and fold until well incorporated
6. Add the shredded carrots and mix.
7. Pour the batter evenly into each liner. It will be very full, don't worry.
8. Bake for 20 minutes. Serve warm and Enjoy.